Extraneous And Confounding Variables

Question 1

What in an extraneous variable?

Answer 1

Unwanted extra variables other than the IV that could have an effect on the DV, this would lower the internal validity of the study

Question 2

What are the 3 main causes for extraneous variables?

Answer 2

1) Situational factors
2) Participant variables
3) Experimenter variables

Question 3

What are situational factors?

Answer 3

Things to do with the environment the research is carried out in e.g. task difficulty or standardised instructions

Question 4

What are participant variables?

Answer 4

Things to do with the participants e.g age, gender, eyesight, IQ, hearing, personality.

Question 5

When can participant variables be used as an extraneous variable?

Answer 5

In independent groups designs

Question 6

What are experimenter variables?

Answer 6

Things to do with the researcher e.g. investigator effects

Question 7

What is a confounding variable?

Answer 7

When an extraneous variable is not controlled for and it does affect the DV